My Epic Weekend In Pictures: Lots Of Adventures And A BEAR

Life is precious! This weekend we enjoyed many fun adventures both with work and play, while getting to see some of our amazing friends. I took Awesome Girlfriend Megan on an exploratory adventure that ended up getting us lost and basically an hour out of our way. A BEAR (mascot,) surprisingly ambushed me during my Facebook Live video for Shop Rite Of Sparta. We'll start my Epic Weekend with a quick note on last weekend. Monday I spent my afternoon in the ER at Newton Medical Center getting checked out after a weekend car accident. The results were very bad contusions on my chest and wrist, but NO broken bones. That made me very happy. Some have asked why I didn't mention the car accident I was in last Monday morning during my Weekend In Pictures. Last Monday morning at this time, I was very concerned about my health, with troubles breathing and not being able to close my hand at the time. I didn't want to cause any panic, and figured it would just be easier to explain everything once I had all the answers. It's so much easier to just let you know all in one swoop that I'm okay, and they're just bad contusions. Every day we'll heal up more and more, and get back to normal. We are very lucky to be here and have our loved ones. Tuesday night I gave Awesome Girlfriend Megan flowers and said that I hope to be here and give her flowers for many more years. We're very lucky to be here for sure.

Thursday night I was so happy to kick off the 4th annual Zumbathon at Minerals Sports Club. Even though I wasn't "medically cleared," to do Zumba, I still went out to do a quick intro video and support all of their efforts. 75 people strong attended! Terrific turnout. I then celebrated with a couple of victory beers at Kite's with some of my buddies. Strong start to my weekend for sure.

Friday afternoon I took my show on the road to the brand new Shop Rite Of Sparta on Route 15. WOWZA! They went all out on this place. I swear everywhere you went this weekend everyone was buzzing about the gorgeous new Shop Rite. The crowds were intense. I think it's safe to say that Sussex County has been hungry for a grocery store of this type and size. The total area is 95,000 square feet! I did a tour on our Facebook Live video to showcase all they have to offer. If you catch the end of our Facebook Live video, you'll see why I had a BEARY big surprise. Really funny, Shop Rite Of Sparta!

Friday night after a long day/night of work (soooooo many people soooooo crowded soooo amazing,) at Shop Rite Of Sparta's Grand Opening weekend, Meg and I went to swing by Awesome Daughter Caitlyn and Robbie P's place in nearby Andover. Cait showed us off her new car, and we are quite proud of the kids. We enjoyed a White Claw with them, and then went back to Vernon. Meg and I were more than ready to have a chill night in. We were in bed by 9:30, and very excited about that.

Saturday morning it was off to see my friend Wally Darwish at Audi Of Newton. Every month we're there, it's refreshing to see so many smiling faces. Wally was so sweet when I arrived, he immediately charged out of the dealership to gently hug me after hearing about my recent car accident. He really cares so much. I'm blessed to have so many wonderful friends. Success stories and Woohoos all around everywhere. Then Audi Of Newton's Joe tracked me down, to have me give deserts to the girls. Red carpet treatment for everyone!

Saturday I took Awesome Girlfriend Megan out for an exploratory adventure. I asked my bestie Kim Eid about a brewery that she visited last month and gave great reviews to me. She told me it was Orange County Brewery At Brown Barn Farm. When Meg and I google mapped it, this wasn't exactly the result we were getting. Meg and I always say, even if we end up at some dive bar, we can always laugh and get a great story out of it. We went for it. We drove and drove and drove. We ended up just past Stewart Airport up 84. We then stumbled upon this brewery minutes before it opened out in the middle of nowhere. Turns out, the place we were really intending to go was the Orange County DISTILLERY. Amazing how one word can make a world of difference, isn't it? Meg and I figured we were already out there, we were going to try this place that we stumbled onto accidentally.

Outside, it looked like a dive in the middle of nowhere. Inside, it was actually gorgeous. Built by a retired band teacher, if you're in that area, I can recommend it. We did one flight of beers, with a yummy stout and IPA. Our new friend Katie is a school teacher who works there on the weekends. She was very excited to make our Epic Weekend In Pictures. Even if it's not what you originally planned in life, there are still so many ways you can stay positive and have fun. Okay, to be fair it's much more easier to stay positive when you have a yummy craft beer.

Saturday night we were back in Vernon at our bestie Jamie's for her Halloween party. Meg and I don't dress up, but we still had tons of fun with everyone. Smiling adults and kids all over.

Sunday was a little more low key. I always hate the Sundays when Meg has to go back to Hackettstown. We know it's time for a our farewell beer at the Cottage. I joked with her "hey it's a rainy Sunday, you know what that means? We might see our friends Jill and Parker Space since it's rainy Sunday." Surely enough we did lol. We always joke about how if it's a rainy Sunday at The Zoo, then we're lucky enough to enjoy a beer with them.

Jill was so sweet and gave me a huge compliment. She heard my commercial on the radio during our Newton Medical Center "Ask Her," campaign and immediately scheduled a mammogram. Jill smiled at me and said "like you always say, radio gets results." Smiles all over. It also helped that my Patriots were on normal regular TV, so I could have some fun at the Cottage first then watch my Pats in the comfort of my own living room. We will take the wins.

Overall we had a wonderful, adventure filled weekend. I hope your weekend was terrific too. Time to start planning next weekend!